Christmas Holly

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the Glittery Gold Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is to make it chilly!

Baby It's Cold Outside

We are showcasing Penny Black Products this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the bottom of this post! You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!

I originally was going to use a critter image with a Christmas parcel but I remembered that the challenge was cold outside so decided to go with the Holly Flourish die I brought for the challenge.

I went for a white card because in my head I was thinking my holly is either covered in snow or frost. I embossed the back of each holly leaf with a large ball embossing tool. I added some cut down 3d foam square on the back of the leaves I wanted to be raised.

Now I have thing about a random stalk left on view so I got out my favourite Simon says Stamp Poinsettia Parade to make some white poinsettias.

The sentiment is one I've been using lots at the moment from Simon says Stamp Yuletide Holiday stamps. I've been practising making dots with the Nuvo Crystal Red Berry drops which is why I felt confident to use them for my berries.

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Golden Snowflake

When I made the red and gold background for this card I first cut out loads of snowflakes in gold but decided not to use the large Simon says Stamp Alicia snowflake so that meant I had some gold snowflake to make use of.

I decided to use cream card and I first used the Simon says Stamp Wonky Frame on them and I used the Simon says Stamp Retro Christmas sentiment, stamped and embossed before adding the snowflake.

I also cut out some Simon says Stamp Rina Snowflake die in cream to make a snowflake cluster. The circle in the centre of my snowflakes came from the Snowflake die from Simon says Stamp Christmas Icons. To be honest any large snowflake dies can equally make a similar card.

I added some Nuvo Crystal drops in Auburn Pearl since that seemed to work better with the gold card I had used.

That's a couple more quick cards and I've even added the inserts too, still have about 25-30 to do not sure I will get them done by the 1st of December, everything stopped in the craftroom to make a card for a special lady and I then remember I've a boys card to make asap. It is really inconvenient for people to have birthdays in November.

Split Background

So using the Yana Inspired card I stamped the Simon says Stamp Outline Snowflakes with Versamark and using WOW Bright White Opaque embossing powder on different coloured card.

I did use a stamp platform so I knew when I cut them they should match! I did colour the snowflakes with my nearly empty Wink of Stella Glitter pen but now I found my Nuvo Shimmer pens these work just as well.

To decorate and hide my join I used the Simon says Stamp Tiny Word Christmas and Simon says Stamp Rina Snowflake which I used glitter card to cut with.

The only difference in both of them I used Crystal Stickles fro the dots and the centre of the snowflake. I can live with the dots but the snowflake centre didn't quite work out.

I can climb

Probably my favourite layout I made at the Scrap Cafe Retreat, the papers are either Echo Park or Carte Bella.

The bird strip die is Penny Black and the Heart Smile die is from Simon says Stamp along with their Holiday Shapes die which gives me the little stars and hearts, the larger stars are MFT.

The rest came from various Alphabet stickers, I did back the large word shape on card and fussy cut round it so I could put some 3d foam behind it.

Red and Gold

Remember me saying how I love the Gold Snowflakes on red, well here's a couple of non cute cards. There should of been three but I managed to make a mess of the third one that couldn't be rescued.

My snowflakes are Simon says Stamp Rina, Kadyn and the one from Christmas Icons which I used the dot from the middle as well. The gold border is again from Simon says Stamp Scallop Stitches border dies.

To finish my favourite sentiment this year Yuletide Holiday stamps which were embossing with WOW Gold Pearl embossing powder.

I've had a couple off days which I can ill afford but I think I'm back to almost normal for me and I'm hoping for some more quick Christmas card ideas, Still have thirty to go and I need sort out my overseas cards soon. But first I need to help Hubby clean out the wardrobe ready for the carpet fitters on Monday. I'll be so glad to be back in my own bed instead of the spare room one.

Skating to Christmas

Now I've made the baby cards I can get back to Christmas Cards and this cutie is from Mo Manning called Skater S.

The papers I think could be last years Pink and Main Christmas ones but I could be completely wrong but the front cover is missing.

My poinsettias are some really old Marianne ones which I'm debating whether to keep, the Holly leaves are the same company but they're not as delicate as the Penny Black ones I've got so I might part ways with it after Christmas of course.

Blast you can tell I was in a hurry to make my card the dots are in my Lawn Fawn Scallop border, I will need to investigate whether I can remove them. Please just pretend you don't see them.

I used my mixture of Fun Flock and Flowersoft for the clothes and I also used the Nuvo Shimmer pen over her grey jumper it worked a treat, you just about to see the sparkle.  I promise to pay more attention next time.

All that Glitters is Gold

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the Thanks/Thanksgiving Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is to add some gold sparkle to your creation!

All That Glitters Is Gold

We are showcasing Lawn Fawn Products  this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the bottom of this post! You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!

So I coloured and layered up my little Santa Bear from Lawn Fawn called Oh What Fun Stamp and die set and put him to one side. I did use a gold pen for the edges on the sleigh.

Now down to make the card to actually put him on. So I made my red and gold panel using red card and gold card with the Simon says Stamp Rina Snowflake. The other snowflake is Simon says Stamp Christmas Icon and the circles are out of the centres seemed a shame to waste them.

The white panel was made up with Simon says Stamp Stitched Slopes and Hills for my snow drifts and I embossed with the Simon says Stamp Falling Snow Stencil.

Finally the sentiment I used my overworked Simon says Stamp Stitched Banner with their Tiny Words Christmas. 

I loved the red panel so much I used it again and will post them later this week.

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Yana Inspired

On Instagram I follow Yana and I'm pretty sure there was short film (I mean short since I can't watch anything too long) to see how she made this card

I have that Simon says Stamp Outline Snowflakes and I also have the Nuvo Shimmer pens but do you think I could find them, hunted everywhere so I had to use my nearly run out Wink of Stella Glitter Clear Pen. After making some cards I found my Nuvo pens and I have to say they were better.

I used colour card and two different Oxides to give the shading. I didn't want an exact copy of Yana's card since I had cut out a my new Rina Snowflake out of some Simon says Stamp White Glitter Card to see what it looked like so had to use it somewhere.

Then I wanted to see what my Simon says Stamp Tiny Words Christmas were like and since it was fashionable to do it with black card and white embossing I thought I would give it a go. A square punch was used to make the fishtail ends.

Baby Washing Line

Last Baby card of the three, this time CAS. I used the Simon says Stamp Stitched Rectangles to make a frame for my MFT Bundle Baby Clothes washing line.

Of course I used the clothes from the die set with the scraps left over from the other two cards and I inked round the edges with a bit brown ink to give them a bit of shadow. The pegs were a bit tricky to stick but worth persisting.

I love this sentiment from MFT Welcome Baby clear stamps especially since the baby hasn't been born yet. I did stamp it before adding my washing line and frame.

Last of the Wedding Scrapbooking

Thats all the Wedding ones done, just one left of my Sister's surprise Birthday and I think all my 2015 are completed, just need to narrow down the 2016 photos.

This layout was bit tricky because that pink boa was the wrong colour pink to work with the paper set I decided to use but I think the finish layout doesn't seem to clash to much.

I hand stitched the circle and the hearts are again from the actual wedding. Not sure now whose verse stamp but I think it could Visibleimage. The pink letters are some old Basic Grey ones, I have loads of them so I thought it was time to use them.

CAS Nativity

I'm trying to work out some quick CAS to help my Christmas Pile to increase by 50%, I was really luck with this one that I didn't get inky fingers on all that white. Do think maybe my sentiment could come down the card a bit.

So I used Simon says Stamp Stitched Circles to make my frame and to make a circle to fit underneath which I used Faded Jeans Oxide on.

My Nativity which is straight just the way I photo it, is a die from Impression Obsession Small Manager set. I did layer them twice to help stand out of all the white.

Finally the sentiment is from Simon says Stamp Yuletide Holiday, there's a lovely large sentiment on the set which I particularly like but I thought it would be nice to use this one instead.


No crochet update, forgot to take a picture of my Ugly Sweater Afghan cal but it was some red and cream rows, this week its a bit more tricky.

Baby Blankie

Remember the baby card I posted on Monday and warned that I made three well his the second, this time with Mo's Baby Girl on a Blanket. You can see I paper pieced part of the blanket.

I still used Echo Park Sweet Baby Girl and the MFT crochet border round the image mat. This time I used the Penny Black Heart Bow die but I cut in white and pattern paper and trimmed the hearts to fit over the white hearts.

The side border is with an old Marianne or Joy die and the fishtail banner was made with a square punch. The sentiment is MFT Welcome Baby stamps about the only thing that isn't retired yet.

Thanks

Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us for the Anything Goes Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.

This week the challenge is

 Thanks/Thanksgiving 

We are showcasing Altenew Products this week. You don't have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the bottom of this post! You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!

Altenew are famous for their floral stamps but when I saw this stencil, I had it in my head to make a more masculine Thank You card which is why I chose to use one of their stencils called Molded Lines.

You know what's coming next, out came the Oxides,  lets see if I can remember the colours, the green is Mowed Lawn. Blue was probably Broken China and the red is Fired Brick.

My thanks is a Simon says Stamp Big Thanks die which I cut out in black and white, the stamped sentiment is from Simon says Stamp Tiny Words.

To finish I used Nuvo Vintage drops although the black drops were Liquid Pearls Onyx Pearl.

It just so happened that another Altenew Stencil fell into my basket Elegant Swirls and using various Pinks and Purple Oxides I made female versions. Again using the Big Thanks die and I used the hearts and stars of the Simon says Stamp Holiday Shapes dies to decorate.

The card above I used Simon says Stamp You're a Star die but I layered it twice so it would stand out. The card below I used the Simon says Wonky Rectangles die and used silver card for a bit of glamour.

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Pushchair Baby

My friend asked for a baby girl card to give to someone who was leaving to have her baby, so I felt I had to be careful what sentiments I used. I'm also aware the cards I like don't always appeal to everyone so I made three!!!

Lets be honest Baby cards are the cutest and easiest to make, this card is the first of the three using LOTV digi image, its such a shame they don't do them anyone. I would have had to stamp at least the image at least five times and again to paper piece the pram.

The papers are Echo Park Sweet Baby Girl and the border round the image mat is the Crochet Border from MFT not sure if its still made along with the Upsy Daisy dies for the flowers. The corners are Filgree Corners from La LaLand again not sure if they still make it.

Finally the sentient is a WOJ which again is no more but it was just what I was looking for.

A Wedding Day

A double layout using some of my favourite photo's of the day. I used the same papers throughout the wedding layouts and this one I using of the venue cards for an embellishment.

The title was cut with my cricut with my favourite font of Storybook. Just kept it all very simple since the floral paper is quite busy.

The bright pink made it a bit difficult to use the papers I've used with the other Wedding Photos but I added a bit of bright pink card stock. The hearts are from the actual Wedding and my zig zags are an old MFT die.

Purple and Blue

Remember this weeks Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where I used their Ornate Ornaments stamps and dies, well this is what I made with the others baubles.

I used Simon says Stamp Lots of Snowflakes stamps which I stamped with a Clear Inkpad and used Wow Opaque Bright White embossing powder, I didn't cover the whole card , just down the side and along the bottom.

I used various colours of Oxides whatever took my fancy and coloured the ornaments in matching colours. A slight accident meant only one blue card made it.

But both purples made it and I finished off the cards with  the large sentiment stamped from Simon says Stamp Yuletide Holiday and embossed with Silver powder.

Right need to get dressed and make my lunch before my DD comes to pick me up to go to the Scrap Cafe Crop at Bracknell. If I'm still struggling with my Christmas Cards I may have to take some to make at the All Day Crop at the end of the month.

More Crochet

My Stool cover is done, its full of errors but it does the job. The square is Polly Plum from the Shiny booklet, it is a paid pattern. I used the centres to start my little ones and sort of made it into a little square but they are actually too big and the popcorns stick up.

I did also find that I had to decrease as I went round on the border this was so it was be tight enough to fit and not need to be fixed underneath the cushion. The wool are all Stylecraft Special Double Knitting.

My Ugly Sweater Afghan Cal so far, its a free pattern on Ravelry, I trying to keep it with the four colours, two greens, red and cream. I have discovered that the pattern size is for Aran and add my preference for a small hook means it coming up small but I thought I could add another of week 3 rounds later.

25 Days of Christmas Tags

Hi all and welcome to the start of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event hosted by the fabulous Tracey McNeeley aka In My Creative Opinion ! This is the 8th year that Tracey has hosted this event and Simon Says Stamp is thrilled to get the ball rolling on Day 1!

Each day up to November 25th there will be a different company sponsoring with fabulous crafty give aways and prizes to be won PLUS the company design teams will be joining in with lots of gorgeous Christmas Tags for our inspiration!

The Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday Challenge teams are joining in using Simon's Exclusive Brand Products 

By joining in with the event YOU could win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp! How awesome is that! ;-) 

This is the third year I think that I've been asked to join in on the behalf of Simon Says Stamp and your can see I've used possibly my favourite tag die Stitched Dress Up Tag die.  I cut out another tag in red and start adding the dots and wished I had chosen another die but it's always worth it even though a bit time consuming.

I added a bit of interest using the Simon says Stamp Scallop Stitched border, you could layer it  under the dots to give an impression of red dots certainly would speed things up why didn't I think of that then!

I decided to make a wreath using the the pine needles from the Simon says Stamp Pine Needles Wreath die this way I could make what size I like. I then added the Simon says Stamp Holly Fanfare for my Holly. Finally the Ornate Ornaments were on my desk with the perfect sentiment on, I would like add I stamped it first before layering my wreath.

The bit of ribbon is out of my ribbon box I should say trunk since I'm alway picking up ribbon and people keep giving me theirs!

I always panic when I see how everyone dressed their photo, so I quickly found some wrapping paper and empty my stock cubes which are now rolling around my corner carousel where my tins a packet live.

 CLICK HERE  to visit Tracey's blog where there is more information about how you can win the fabulous prizes on offer!

If you upload your creations onto instagram please use the hashtag  #25DaysofTags2018

Did you know that this is the 8th year Tracy from In my Creative Opinion has run 25 tags of Christmas and I know that this is my third year Simon says Stamp as asked the DT to join.

Today is the first day

Hubby's Card

Finally got round to posting Hubby's card, I hate to say it I think I've use Mo's He's Still Got it  before all it could be that all the men folk in the family have received a similar card.

The papers are some old Basic Grey, just a few scraps but pleased I manage to use them for this card. No else make scrap paper like them so sad that they are no more.

I used the largest Simon says Stamp Stitched Oval but I drew round it with a  pen and  fussy cut round on the outside of the line in a contrast colour. The sentiment is a Simon says Stamp Happy Birthday die  layered twice.

The musical notes are an old die from MFT which again I've layered twice to give more depth.

I planned to make some Christmas Cards this week managed a couple but I just stared at stuff Mr Mojo as a lot to answer for.